❝ Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied ❞
The clock read six forty-five am when I finally put down the fantasy novel I'd been reading. I originally wanted to prep for the classes but tempted by the urge to drown myself in a world of words was stronger. I decided to get ready early, classes did not start before eight thirty am, but we were required to be ready to have our breakfasts.
I took a quick shower and pulled on my new witch robes, which were black and blue, with Ravenclaw's crest tailored into the robe. I had to dry my hair with a towel, though Dad was sometimes considered the god of magma and I could produce heat from my body which helps in drying my hair but only to a certain extent.
I brushed my hair and let it fall loose, I used to have hip-length hair, but having such long hair needed care and was quite a disturbance while dueling. Hence, I cut it short. My black waves reached up to my chest.
By this time, one of the girls with flaming red hair had woken up and was staring at me.
"Such an early bird, huh?" She muttered sleepily.
"Does it still count if I said I didn't sleep at all?"
The girl raised her eyebrows and then disappeared into the bathroom.
I stuffed my sling bag with quills, ink, parchment paper, and some textbooks and left the common room. Hardly anyone was awake. I decided to wander around the castle it was magnificent some portraits said hello to me. I was walking down the stairs without keeping any track of my steps, and into corridors of different parts of Hogwarts.
I bumped into someone, it wasn't just someone, it was Albus Dumbledore headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Maybe I was in trouble, but Dumbledore smiled.
"What are you doing in this corridor, Miss Scott?" he asked softly.
"I...I was—" I didn't know what to say. Wouldn't it sound weird if I said I was wandering around randomly?
"I was exploring the castle, sir," I stated.
"That's good, Miss Scott. I hope the third-floor corridor is not on your exploring list of yours," he reminded and walked ahead of me.
I was tempted to see what was in that corridor, I wanted to know what could be so bad that it gives me the most painful death, but how could I get in there without getting caught? Guess I should probably stay away from it.
"Of course not sir," I said. I couldn't disobey direct orders. That would be bad.
"Good." he started to walk away but paused and asked, "...and do you need any help in navigation, Miss Scott?"
I glanced around me, I had no idea where was I, and I would never find my way back. How lucky of me! Albus Dumbledore reading my mind and offering help. Maybe he had seen students getting lost at times in his life.
"Please, thank you," I said smiling sheepishly.
He chuckled and said "It's alright, follow me," I followed him to the great hall. I went over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down beside a girl she looked up from her plate.
"First year?" she asked. I nodded.
" I'm Padma Patil," she introduced. Padma had bronzed skin, luminous black hair braided in a single plat, and dark brown eyes.
"Aquila Scott," She was about to say something when someone interrupted.
"Hiya! Morning!" Alan chipped in. He looked brighter than ever with a wide grin plastered on his face he was in his Ravenclaw robes too.
"Good Morning, you seem to be very excited," I remarked. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning excited to open the gifts.
"Of course, I'm excited I'm going to learn magic, I mean it's so cool," he said.
I rolled my eyes "Yeah yeah, totally,"
"Anyway did Professor Flitwick give you your schedule?" he asked
"Not yet," I replied.
"Oh, he gave us already,"
"What? when? Why he did not give me?"
"He gave everyone in the common room you were not there that time, but don't worry you can collect yours later. All first-year Ravenclaws have the same schedule, you can share mine," he said.
"Thank you, what do we have first?" I asked.
"Charms, with Slytherins. It's almost time we should be going by now," he said. I looked at my untouched breakfast, I guess I was just gonna starve then. We made our way to the classroom, where almost everyone else was present. I recognized Draco Malfoy and his goons.
The day was fine, we had to study the night skies through telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets.
Of course, I knew everything about astronomy and astrology so I didn't need a lesson but I enjoyed it either way. Three times a week we went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where we learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, it was an interesting subject in my opinion, but the teacher was a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him.
Binns droned on and on while others scribbled down names and dates and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. I, however, managed to learn it by myself.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and the head of my house Ravenclaw, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk.
Professor McGonagall was again different. I had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to mess with. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. We were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized we weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time.
After taking a lot of complicated notes, we were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only some Ravenclaws managed to make any difference to it but did it perfectly and Professor McGonagall gave me twenty house points and a rare smile.
The class I had been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke.
His classroom smelled strongly of garlic I hated garlic and the smell made me nauseous I had to leave the class because I would vomit if I stayed there for another second. After the class was over Alan filled me in, everyone said the garlic thing was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story.
For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
The next class was double potions with Gryffindors and Slytherins.
Potion lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity."
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," He began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but everyone caught every word —like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
More silence followed this little speech. How can this stupid say dunderheads when Ravenclaws are here?
"Hey Aquila, I'm pretty sure you will hate Snape from now on," he whispered to me. He was right.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?" Alan whispered-questioned, seriously?
Harry glanced at Ron Weasley beside him, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. I knew the answer but he only asked Harry not me so I decided to keep still.
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
"Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything." he ignored Hermione's hand.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry seemed to have no idea what a bezoar was.
He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.
"I don't know, sir."
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry looked troubled. Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
A few people laughed, and Seamus another Gryffindor boy winked at Harry the stupid beside me was trying to control his laughter, it was not funny at all why did these people laugh?
Snape, however, was not pleased.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. Poor girl.
"Does anyone know the answer to my question?" Snape called out. I lifted my hand. Snape turned his head towards me.
"Scott isn't it? Yes," he approved.
"Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." I said.
A few people gasped, some Ravenclaws looked like they already knew the answer. Harry looked dumbstruck. Hermione looked sad she wanted to answer that so badly, but Snape being bitter towards Gryffindors was not helping.
Snape nodded at me and said "Five points for Ravenclaw. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, snape said,
"And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."
Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mix up a simple potion to cure boils. I was paired with Padma.
He swept around in his long black cloak, watching us weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid-green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.
Snape didn't say anything bad about my potion either mine looked perfect. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.
"You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Though he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor." That's unfair what does Harry do with it? Snape is simply the opposite of justice.
"You are quite impressive, you know?" Alan said. He was just bragging about how I knew the answer to Snape's surprise question.
"I know I'm great you don't have to remind me that," I snapped. Alan was getting so irritating by every minute, I wished I never allowed him to sit with me on the train.
I saw Hermione along the corridor. "I'm sorry about that," I said. She deserved the points.
"It's fine," she smiled sadly. "And you are?"
"Aquila," I figured that I didn't need to publicize my surname.
"Nice to meet you,"
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley who were standing behind Hermione introduced themselves too.
"Bloody hell! Did you memorize the whole thing in a day? Only you can survive Snape's class," he said.
I chuckled "It's common knowledge you will find in the wizarding world. I've read a lot of books so it's easier well? You were raised here right Ron? Then you must've known." I said
"Er— well I don't read books a lot," Ron looked a little embarrassed.
"You must've at least heard about bezoar it's important," I added. "Anyway I have herbology I have to go see y'all later,"
All classes were over and it was almost dinner time. I went to the library. The Library had thousands of shelves with ten thousand books I found an empty spot at a corner. I started to read about history and everything there were so many ancient myths that were interesting and yet no one talked about it...
The next day was normal until Harry became the new seeker for his house quidditch team. Malfoy provoked Harry into trouble, but it turned out good for Harry. It's been a century since a first-year player in the Quidditch team.
The classes were fine, I continued to earn house points and Alan continued to annoy me.
I missed Dad, Vega, Deimos, Dan, and Annabeth. Though I stayed at Astrelaia I used to iris message them and when I stayed at camp, I could simply night travel whenever to meet my family.
Hopefully, I can meet them soon enough.